My TBR Pile Has More Than Sextupled!

Courtesy of my laptop’s camera:

My TBR pile before the Bookfest...

...my TBR pile after the Bookfest.

Even if you count two-in-one volumes as a single book, I now have more than six times the number of books waiting to be read than I did earlier in the week. It’s a happy day indeed when a book nut can acquire nearly fifty books for under sixty dollars - even if she does have to lug all twelve kilos of them home afterwards. (My next Bookfest will be my eighth; after which my combined Bookfest hauls will approximately equal twice my own weight in literature. No wonder I’ve got shelving problems.)

I managed to spend six hours browsing the tables, loading up with the usual mix of books I’ve been hunting for years and books I didn’t know I wanted until I saw them, and smiling at some of the odder titles on offer. (Who would buy The Basics of Anaesthesia and Resuscitation? And is the second topic intended for use when the first goes horribly wrong?) All the King’s Men joined All the Queen’s Men in my bag, I snared the first three of Susanna Gregory’s Matthew Bartholomew chronicles, and picked up several books I’ve read good reviews of but never so much as seen. After ending up happily weighed down and footsore the day took an unfortunate turn.

The train was packed. My feet were killing me. There was scarcely enough room to sit on the floor. Out of sheer desperation I did the unthinkable.

Dear readers, I sat on my books. Set the bags side by side and sat on them. For a good half hour.

I gave them an anxious once-over when I got them home and unpacked, but they were none the worse for having just been squashed by their owner. I’ve got a new appreciation for them now, after discovering this additional use for them, and I’m not sure I wouldn’t do it again should the need arise - even if it does seem a little sacrilegious.

Now come the fun parts of having a newly-increased TBR pile ... dithering over what to read next, and CHALLENGES!!